UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

RISK MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE THROUGH INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN SELECTED STATES OF

MALAYSIA

MUHAMMAD ALI

FP 2018 39

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RISK MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE THROUGH INFORMATION

AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN SELECTED STATES OF

MALAYSIA

By

MUHAMMAD ALI

Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia,

in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

January 2018

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COPYRIGHT

All material contained within the thesis, including without limitation text, logos, icons,

photographs, and all other artwork, is copyright material of Universiti Putra Malaysia

unless otherwise stated. Use may be made of any material contained within the thesis

for non-commercial purposes from the copyright holder. Commercial use of material

may only be made with the express, prior, written permission of Universiti Putra

Malaysia.

Copyright © Universiti Putra Malaysia

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DEDICATION

TO

MY GREAT MOTHER, WIFE, AYYAN AND ALL FAMILY

&

ALSO DEDICATED

TO

DR. KRISTIN E. DAVIS (IFPRI/GFRAS)

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Abstract of thesis presented to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia in fulfillment

of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

RISK MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE THROUGH INFORMATION

AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN SELECTED STATES OF

MALAYSIA

By

MUHAMMAD ALI

January 2018

Chairman : Associate Professor Norsida Man, PhD

Faculty : Agriculture

Agricultural risk management is getting priority by the farmers to overcome problems

prevailing due to climatic variations and affecting farms and farmers’ behavioral

intention to use ICTs for managing agriculture related risks. As ICTs have proved

cheap, speedy, easy to operate in sharing, learning various practices for managing risks

at individual and collective level, so, existing condition of ICT usage alongwith risk

management techniques were deemed necessary to examine at various parts of the

country. Agriculture extension services in this context were also required to determine

at the field level.

Therefore, the prime focus of this study was to examine management of risk in

agriculture through Information and Communication Technologies at selected states

in Malaysia. The emprical research was conducted: 1) to identify the ICT technologies,

sources of information use, agriculture extension services, existing networks and

adaptation by the respondents in managing agriculture risk; 2) to examine attitude

level, subjective norm level, perceived behavioral control level and intention level to

use ICTs for agricultural risk management; 3) to evaluate the relationship between

socio-demographic factors and intention to use ICTs for managing agricultural risks

by the respondents; 4) to assess relationship between attitude, subjective norm,

perceived behavioral control and intention to use ICTs for agricultural risk

management; and 5) to determine the influence of attitude, subjective norms,

perceived behavioral control (IVs) on the intention (DV) of farmers to use ICTs for

risk management in agriculture.

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The data were collected through suvery method in which pre designed questionnaire

was used as research instrument. Multistage cluster sampling technique was used to

gather data from total 360 farmers. The data were randomly collected from three states

which were reflecting East zone (Pahang and Terengganu), South zone (Johor) and

North zone (Kedah). The statistical analysis techniques administered in this study were

descriptive analysis, chi square, Pearson correlation and multiple regression.

The results showed that mobile was used by majority of farmers. Additionally, the

results of chi square revealed that education, dependent size, land ownership and

income had significant association (p

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Abstrak tesis yang dikemukakan kepada Senat Universiti Putra Malaysia sebagai

memenuhi keperluan untuk ijazah Doktor Falsafah

PENGURUSAN RISIKO DALAM PERTANIAN MELALUI TEKNOLOGI

MAKLUMAT DAN KOMUNIKASI BAGI NEGERI TERPILIH DI

MALAYSIA

Oleh

MUHAMMAD ALI

Januari 2018

Pengerusi : Profesor Madya Norsida Man, PhD

Fakulti : Pertanian

Pengurusan risiko pertanian kini mendapat keutamaan daripada petani bagi mengatasi

masalah yang wujud disebabkan variasi cuaca dan ini menjejaskan ladang serta niat

dan tingkah laku petani untuk menggunakan ICT bagi menguruskan risiko berkaitan

dengan pertanian. Memandangkan ICT terbukti murah, pantas, mudah untuk

dikendalikan dan sememangnya efektif dalam perkongsian, pembelajaran pelbagai

amalan untuk menguruskan risiko pada peringkat individu dan kolektif, maka tahap

penggunaan ICT sedia ada di samping teknik pengurusan risiko perlu diuji di pelbagai

bahagian negara ini. Perkhidmatan pengembangan pertanian dalam konteks ini juga

diperlukan bagi menentukan penggunaan ICT pada peringkat lapangan.

Oleh itu, fokus utama kajian ini adalah untuk meneliti pengurusan risiko dalam

pertanian melalui penggunaan Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi di beberapa

negeri terpilih di Malaysia. Penyelidikan empirikal telah dijalankan: 1) untuk

mengenal pasti teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT), sumber penggunaan

maklumat, perkhidmatan pengembangan pertanian, jaringan sedia ada dan adaptasi

oleh responden dalam menguruskan risiko pertanian; 2) untuk meneliti tahap sikap,

tahap norma subjektif, tahap kawalan tingkah laku terjangka dan tahap niat untuk

menggunakan ICT bagi pengurusan risiko pertanian; 3) untuk menilai hubungan

antara faktor sosiodemografik dan tahap niat untuk menggunakan ICT bagi mengurus

risiko pertanian oleh responden; 4) untuk menaksir hubungan antara sikap, norma

subjektif, kawalan tingkah laku terjangka dan niat untuk menggunakan ICT untuk

pengurusan risiko pertanian; dan 5) untuk meneliti pengaruh sikap, norma subjektif,

kawalan tingkah laku terjangka (IV) ke atas niat (DV) petani untuk menggunakan ICT

untuk pengurusan risiko dalam pertanian.

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Data telah dikumpul melalui kaedah tinjauan yang menggunakan soal selidik prareka

bentuk sebagai instrumen penyelidikan. Teknik persampelan kluster pelbagai

peringkat telah digunakan untuk mengumpul data daripada sejumlah 360 orang petani.

Data telah dikumpul dari zon Timur (Pahang dan Terengganu), zon Selatan (Johor)

dan zon Utara (Kedah). Teknik analisis statistik yang digunakan dalam kajian ini ialah

analisis deskriptif, khi kuasa dua, korelasi Pearson dan regresi berganda.

Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa telefon bimbit digunakan oleh majoriti petani.

Tambahan pula, keputusan khi kuasa dua menunjukkan bahawa pendidikan, saiz

dependen, pemilikan tanah dan pendapatan mempunyai perkaitan yang signifikan

(p

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am thankful to Almighty Allah, who enabled me to complete my PhD. Furthermore,

I am grateful to my great supervisor Associate Professor Dr. Norsida Man for her

guidance, continuous support and positive criticism. I am sure without her positive

encouragement, I could not complete my Ph. D successfully.

I also would like to thank my supervisory committee members Associate Prof. Dr.

Ismail Abd. Latif, who gave green signal to start my journey on the research theme. I

would like to thank Dr. Farrah Melissa Muharam, who asked number of questions to

clear my research journey and helped in refining the matter in the thesis. I would like

to acknowledge Associate Professor Dr. Siti Zobidah Omar for help to achieve the

goal (degree). I am also thankful to the people who helped in data collection and

worked hard. I am grateful to my teachers, friends, relatives and collegues for

continuous moral support. I am thankful to my employer for granting study leave for

Ph. D and also Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia for providing me scholarship

(Malaysian International Scholarship-MIS).

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This thesis was submitted to the Senate of the Universiti Putra Malaysia and has been

accepted as fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The

members of the Supervisory Committee were as follows:

Norsida Man, PhD

Associate Professor

Faculty of Agriculture

Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Chairman)

Ismail Abd. Latif, PhD

Associate Professor

Faculty of Agriculture

Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Member)

Farrah Melissa Muharam, PhD

Senior Lecturer

Faculty of Agriculture

Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Member)

Siti Zobidah Omar, PhD

Associate Professor

Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication

Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Member)

ROBIAH BINTI YUNUS, PhD

Professor and Dean

School of Graduate Studies

Universiti Putra Malaysia

Date:

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Declaration by graduate student

I hereby confirm that:

this thesis is my original work; quotations, illustrations and citations have been duly referenced; this thesis has not been submitted previously or concurrently for any other degree

at any institutions;

intellectual property from the thesis and copyright of thesis are fully-owned by Universiti Putra Malaysia, as according to the Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Research) Rules 2012;

written permission must be obtained from supervisor and the office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and innovation) before thesis is published (in the form

of written, printed or in electronic form) including books, journals, modules,

proceedings, popular writings, seminar papers, manuscripts, posters, reports,

lecture notes, learning modules or any other materials as stated in the Universiti

Putra Malaysia (Research) Rules 2012;

there is no plagiarism or data falsification/fabrication in the thesis, and scholarly integrity is upheld as according to the Universiti Putra Malaysia (Graduate

Studies) Rules 2003 (Revision 2012-2013) and the Universiti Putra Malaysia

(Research) Rules 2012. The thesis has undergone plagiarism detection software

Signature: Date:

Name and Matric No: Muhammad Ali, GS39485

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Declaration by Members of Supervisory Committee

This is to confirm that:

the research conducted and the writing of this thesis was under our supervision; supervision responsibilities as stated in the Universiti Putra Malaysia (Graduate

Studies) Rules 2003 (Revision 2012-2013) were adhered to.

Signature:

Name of Chairman

of Supervisory

Committee:

Associate Professor

Dr. Norsida Man

Signature:

Name of Member

of Supervisory

Committee:

Associate Professor

Dr. Ismail Abd. Latif

Signature:

Name of Member

of Supervisory

Committee:

Dr. Farrah Melissa Muharam

Signature:

Name of Member

of Supervisory

Committee:

Associate Professor

Dr. Siti Zobidah Omar

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT i

ABSTRAK iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v

APPROVAL vi

DECLARATION viii

LIST OF TABLES xiv

LIST OF FIGURES xvii

LIST OF MAP xviii

LIST OF EQUATIONS xix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xx

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Background of the Study 1 1.3 Agriculture in Malaysia 2

1.4 Current Scenario of Food Security and ICT Application 5 1.5 Natural Disasters and Climate Change in Malaysia 6

1.6 ICTs in Malaysia 8 1.7 ICTs in Rural Malaysia 10

1.8 Risk Management and ICTs 11 1.9 Role of Agriculture Agencies and ICT Usage in Agriculture 12

1.10 Problem Statement 15 1.11 Research Questions 16

1.12 Objectives of the Study 16 1.12.1 General Objective 16

1.12.2 Specific Objectives 16 1.13 Significance of the Study 17

1.14 Conceptual and Operational Definitions of the Terms 18 1.14.1 Knowledge 18

1.14.2 Attitude 19 1.14.3 Subjective Norms 19

1.14.4 Perceived Behavioral Control 19 1.14.5 Intention 20

1.14.6 Extension Services 20 1.14.7 Agricultural Risk Management 20

1.14.8 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) 21 1.15 Thesis Organization 21

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2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23 2.1 Introduction 23

2.2 Climate Change and Agriculture 23 2.3 Introduction to Agricultural Risk Management 24

2.4 What is Agricultural Risk Management 25 2.5 Types or Sources of Risks 26

2.6 Climate Change and Agricultural Risk Management in Malaysia 27 2.7 ICTs and Agricultural Risk Management 29

2.8 Agricultural Risk Management, Extension and ICTs 32 2.9 Farmers’ Social Networks 34

2.10 Attitude of Farmers toward Agricultural Risk Management and ICTs 35

2.11 Perceptions of Farmers toward Agricultural Risk Management through ICTs 36

2.12 Theories related to Technology Acceptance 38 2.12.1 Theory of Reasond Action (TRA) 38

2.12.2 Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) 39 2.12.3 Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) Theory 42

2.12.4 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) 43 2.12.5 Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

(UTAUT) 44 2.13 Empirical Evidences of Risk Management and ICTs 46

2.14 Theoretical, Research and Practice Gaps 49 2.15 Summary 50

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 52 3.1 Introduction 52

3.2 Conceptual Framework 52 3.3 Location of Study 56

3.4 Population of the Research Study and Sampling Frame 57 3.5 Sample Size 58

3.6 Data Sources 59 3.6.1 Primary Data 59

3.6.2 Secondary Data 59 3.7 Questionnaire Development 59

3.8 Pilot Survey 61 3.9 Items followed for Construct of Theory of Planned Behavior 62

3.10 Measurement Method about Level of Variables 63 3.11 Data Processing and Analysis Techniques 64

3.12 Descriptive Analysis Techniques 65 3.13 Validity and Reliability of Research Instrument 65

3.14 Chi Square Test 67 3.15 Pearson Correlation Analysis 69

3.16 Multiple Regression Analysis 69 3.17 Summary 70

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4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 71 4.1 Introduction 71

4.2 Statistical Analysis of Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 71

4.2.1 Socio-Demographic Profile of Respondents 71 4.2.2 Farm Profile 74

4.3 Awareness about Agricultural Risk Management 75 4.4 Risk Management Necessity in Agriculture Sector 76

4.5 Types of Agriculture Risks Faced 77 4.6 Natural Disaster Experience 78

4.7 Level of Impact of Natural Disasters 79 4.8 Current Risk Management Practices 80

4.9 Sources of Agriculture Information 81 4.10 Risk Preparation 83

4.11 Sources of Information about Weather Forecast 83 4.12 Impacts of Natural Disasters 85

4.13 Knowledge and Motivation in Agricultural Risks Management 86 4.13.1 Knowledge of Respondents toward Agricultural Risks

Management 86 4.13.2 Knowledge level of Respondents toward Agriculture

Risks Management 88 4.13.3 Perceptions of Respondents toward their Motivation in

Agricultural Risks Management 89 4.14 Extreme Climate Impacts Level 90

4.15 Frequency of ICTs Usage in Agriculture 92 4.16 Type of ICTs Uses for Agricultural Activities 92

4.17 Duration of ICTs Usage per Day 93 4.18 Duration of Internet Usage per Day 93

4.19 Effective Role of ICT 94 4.20 ICT Skills 95

4.21 Use of ICTs at Crucial Stage of Agriculture 96 4.22 ICT as Convenient, Speedy and Resourceful 97

4.23 Effectiveness of ICT Type in Agriculture 97 4.24 Reasons to Use ICTs 98

4.25 Usefulness of ICT 100 4.26 Stage of ICT Use 100

4.27 Attitude to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management 101 4.28 Attitude Level of Respondents towards their Use of ICTs for

Agricultural Risk Management 104 4.29 Influence of Subjective Norms on ICTs Use for Agricultural

Risk Management 104 4.30 Level of Subjective Norms 107

4.31 Impacts of ICT Use for Agricultural Risk Management on Perceived Behavioral Control 108

4.32 Level of Perceived Behavioral Control 110 4.33 Farmers’ Intention to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk

Management 110 4.34 Intention Level 113

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4.35 Category of Farmers and their Intention to Use ICTs 113 4.36 Frequency of Agriculture Extension Staff Visits 115

4.37 Support by Extension Officers 116 4.38 Information about Use of ICTs from Extension Staff 117

4.39 Extension Staff Knowledge about ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management 117

4.40 Association Membership 118 4.41 Frequency of Association Meeting 118

4.42 Type of ICTs Training Attended 119 4.43 Problems in Using ICTs 120

4.44 Association Between Socio-Demographic Features and Intention Level to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management 121

4.45 Relationship between Attitude Level, Subjective Norms Level, Perceived Behavioral Control Level and Intention Level to Use

ICTs 123 4.46 Factors which Influence the Intention of Farmers to Use ICTs

for Risk Management in Agriculture, on the Basis of Multiple

Linear Regression Model 125

4.47 Summary 127

5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 130

5.1 Introduction 130 5.2 Summary and Conclusions 130

5.3 Policy Implications 135 5.4 Recomendations 136

5.5 Limitations of the Study 137 5.6 Suggestions for Further Research 138

REFERENCES 139 APPENDICES 180

BIODATA OF STUDENT 195 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 196

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

3.1 Items/Statements Adapted and Modified 61

3.2 List of items followed for Construct of Theory of Planned Behavior 63

3.3 Summary of Statistical Tool and Techniques used for the Objective

Wise Analysis

65

3.4 Pilot and Actual Study Results of Instrument Reliability 67

4.1 Socio-Demographic Profile of Respondents 73

4.2 Farm Profile 75

4.3 Percentages of Awareness about Agricultural Risk Management 76

4.4 Percentages about Risk Management Necessity in Agriculture Sector 77

4.5 Percentages of Types of Agriculture Risks 78

4.6 Natural Disaster Experience 78

4.7 The Level of Impact of Natural Disasters in Past 5 Years 79

4.8 Current Risk Management Practices 81

4.9 Sources of Agriculture Information 82

4.10 Risk Preparation 83

4.11 Sources of Information about Weather Forecast 84

4.12 Impacts of Natural Disasters 86

4.13 Knowledge of Respondents toward Agriculture Risks Management 88

4.14 Knowledge Level of Respondents toward Agriculture Risks 89

4.15 Perceptions of Respondents toward their Motivation in Agricultural

Risks Management

90

4.16 Extreme Climate Impacts Level 91

4.17 Frequency of ICT Usage in Agriculture 92

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4.18 Type of ICTs Uses for Agricultural Activities 93

4.19 Duration of ICTs Usage per Day 93

4.20 Duration of Internet Usage per Day 94

4.21 Effective Role of ICT 95

4.22 ICT Skills 96

4.23 Crucial Stage of Agriculture and Use of ICTs 97

4.24 Convenient, Speedy and Resourceful of ICT 97

4.25 Effectiveness of ICT Type in Agriculture 98

4.26 Reasons to Use ICTs 99

4.27 Usefulness of ICT 100

4.28 Stage of ICT Use 101

4.29 Attitude to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management 103

4.30 Attitude Level of Respondents towards their Use of ICTs for

Agricultural Risk Management

104

4.31 Influence of Subjective Norms on ICTs Use for Agricultural Risk

Management

106

4.32 Level of Subjective Norms among Respondents toward ICTs Use for

Agricultural Risk Management

107

4.33 Impacts of ICT Use for Agricultural Risk Management on Perceived

Behavioral Control

109

4.34 Level of Perceived Behavioral Control of Respondents toward ICTs

for Agricultural Risk Management

110

4.35 Intention to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management 112

4.36 Intention Level of Respondents toward ICTs Use for Agriculture Risk

Management

113

4.37 Intention to Use ICTs by Farmers’ Category 115

4.38 Frequency of Agriculture Extension Staff Visits 116

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4.38 Support by Extension Officers 117

4.39 Information about Use of ICTs from Officers 117

4.40 Extension Staff Knowledge 118

4.41 Association Membership 118

4.42 Frequency of Association Meeting 119

4.43 Type of ICTs Training Attended 119

4.44 Problems in Using ICTs 120

4.45 Result of Association between Socio-demographic Features and

Intention Level to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management

123

4.46 Result of the Relationship between IVs (Attitude Level, Subjective

Norms Level, Perceived Behavioral Control Level) and DV

(Intention Level to Use ICTs)

125

4.47 Farmers’ Intention to Use ICTs for Agricultural Risk Management 127

4.48 Result of Multicollinearity 127

4.49 Summary of Hypotheses and their Results 129

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1.1 Agriculture sector GDP Contribution, 2016 3

1.2 Employment in the Agriculture Sector 4

1.3 Frequency of Internet used by Individuals 9

2.1 Theory of Reasond Action 39

2.2 Innovation Decision Process in Roger’s Model 40

2.3 Innovation Decision Process in Roger’s Model 43

2.4 Technology Acceptance Model 44

2.5 UTAUT Model 45

3.1 Conceptual Framework of the Study 54

5.1 Study’s Fit Model 134

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LIST OF MAPS

Map Page

1.1 Map of Malaysia 3

3.1 Map Showing Location of the Study 57

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LIST OF EQUATIONS

Equation Page

3.1 Formula to calculate sample size 58

3.2 Formula to measure range level by class interval 64

3.3 Formula to measure Cronbach’s alpha 66

3.4 Formula to measure Chi Square 67

3.5 Formula for multiple linear regression 69

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ARM Agricultural Risk Management

DoA Department of Agriculture

DoI Diffusion of Innovation

EAS Extension Advisory Service

EFS Extension Field Staff

FAMA Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FOA Farmers Organization Authority

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GSIAC Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council

IT Information Technology

ICT Information and Communication Technology

IFAD International Fund for Agriculture Development

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

JKKK Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung

LKIM Malaysia Fisheries Development Board

MARDI Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development

Institute

MCMC Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission

MPOB Malaysia Palm Oil Board

NDMA National Disaster Management Authority

NGOs Non Governmental Organizations

PBC Perceived Behavioral Control

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R&D Research and Development

RISDA Rubber Industry Smallholder Development Authority

SPM Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia

SPMV Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia Vokasional

SPSS Statistical Package for Social Science

TMP Tenth Malaysia Plan

TPB Theory of Planned Behavior

TRA Theory of Resasond Action

UTAUT Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

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CHAPTER 1

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter explains the background of the study, overview of Malaysia and its

agriculture, national agriculture policy on food security, climate change scenario in

Malaysia, risk management and ICTs, role of agriculture agencies in agriculture and

ICT usage, future vision on the usage of risk management and ICTs, problem

statement, research questions, objectives of the study, significance of the study,

conceptual and operational definitions of terms and thesis organization.

1.2 Background of the Study

Agricultural extension services are aimed to educate, facilitate in learning and expand

knowledge and skills of farming community on various farming activities and change

their attitude as favorable about innovations in agriculture (Baig and Aldosari, 2013).

Through extenion education, farmers are being helped to increase production and

cultivation techniques, improve agricultural activities, income, livelihood and

ultimately accelerate their socio-economic and standards of education (Anderson and

Feder, 2004; Van den Ban and Hawkins, 1996; Antholt, 1991). According to Tiraieyari

and Uli (2011), the effectiveness of extension education is rely on extension agents’

ability to transfer sustainable practices to farming community who can play pivotal

role in the context of Malaysia. Therefore, extension agents in Malaysia are expected

to transform farmers’ lives through paying regular visits, supporting through linkages

development and organizing farmers, updating their knowledge, skills, attitude and

behavioral intentions to use ICTs for agricultural development.

Agriculture is equally important for Malaysia as other development sectors.

Multiculturalism as a distinct feature of Malaysia also mirrors in the versatile farming

and farmers, as the farming community is attached to this sector since ages. All the

farmers in the country are not facing same problems because it depends on the location

and available resources (Alam et al., 2012). Certain areas are prone to natural disasters

which have been devastating plenty of national and individual resources in many

forms. The current century has given variety of digital technologies to solve the

problems and make profits in almost all spheres of life. However, agriculture has not

used fully the potential of so-called Information and Communication Technologies

(ICTs) (Milovanovic, 2014).

Pickerrnell et al. (2004) stated that big impact of ICT usage on agriculture is certain

as it has open windows of opportunities for farmers and ultimately improves their

quality of life. Hassan et al. (2011) observed that ICTs are playing pivotal role in

transformation of Malaysian rural community and achieving national vision 2020

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through establishment of k-community (knowledgeable community). So, it seems that

importance of ICTs cannot be ignored in agricultural sector of Malaysia.

The agriculture sector has proved to be one of drivers of economy in many developing

countries, despite being faced with numerous obstacles mainly due to risk and

uncertainty even in the current era of digital revolution. Agricultural sector is

influenced by unexpected risks and often beyond control. These risks affect crops,

prices of commodities, demand of consumer, source of pests and diseases and also

adversely impact on economy, social fabric and psychology of the victims.

Additionally, frequent floods and other major or minor natural tragedies have

adversely affected farms, producers and are halting the development mechanism

(Austin and Baharuddin, 2012). According to Legg and Huang (2010), approximately

14% of greenhouse gas emissions at global level is directly contributed by farm sector

which is higher than transport and industry combined.

The term risk and uncertainty are being used invariably in various sectors and revealed

unexpected events which lead to various forms of losses. The literal meaning of both

terms are different. Like, risk is scanty of knowledge where the possible impacts are

known whereas, uncertainty is when likelihoods are unknown. Agriculture system is

faced by different kinds of risks on account of lack of awareness and probability of

unexpected events which create hurdles in the agricultural development process. In

order to further understand the issue, agriculture in Malaysia is presented in the next

topic.

1.3 Agriculture in Malaysia

Malaysia is a country having tropical climate and fits into the Sunderland bio

geographical area. It occupies about 33.27 million hectares of an area, with

composition of Peninsular Malaysia, the states of Sabah and Sarawak in the eastern

region and the Federal Territory of Labuan in the northwestern coastal area of Borneo

Island as shown in Map 1.1. The South China Sea bifurcate the two regions which is

approximately 540 kilometers. Malaysia lies completely in the equatorial zone and the

average daily temperature throughout Malaysia varies from 210C to 320C. The multi-

racial and ethnic population of Malaysia is estimated at 29.7 million in 2013

(Government of Malaysia, 2014).

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Map 1.1 : Map of Malaysia

(Source : Google Maps)

Agriculture sector is still vibrant to Malaysia’s economy. Agriculture contribution to

the GDP of national economy is 8.1% (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2017),

which is comparatively low as compared to the year 2014 which was 11.2% with

occupied labour force of 11.1% (CIA, 2014). Moreover, among the agriculture

products in Figure 1.1, oil palm is the main contributor to agriculture sector GDP

which is 43.1%. While in agriculture sector, the other contribution is made by

livestock (11.6%) followed by fisheries (11.5%), rubber (7.1%) and forestry (7.2%)

respectively (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2017).

Figure 1.1 : Agriculture Sector GDP Contribution, 2016

(Source : Selected Agriculture indicators, Malaysia, Department of Statistics,

Malaysia 2017)

Agriculture is not only the source of food but also provide jobs to the people who are

directly or indirectly involved in this sector. It can be seen from the following Figure

1.2 that agriculture sector has provided employment to 1,609.9 thousands people

Oil Palm, 43.1%

Livestock, 11.6%

Fisheries, 11.5% Rubber, 7.1%

Forestry and Lodging, 7.2%

Agriculture Sector

GDP Contribution

(8.1%) in 2016

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2012.html

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which is decreased by 8.2% as comapred to last year. Additionally, agriculture sector

has also absorbed 600.4 thousands non Malaysian people in 2016 with the 7.1 percent

decreased from the year 2015. Furthermore, gender absorption in this sector shows

that male with 70% is dominant as compared to female gender who are just 30%

absorbed in the agriculture sector. Thus, agriculture sector is dominant by more than

70% male gender in the country.

Figure 1.2 : Employment in the Agriculture Sector

(Source : Selected Agriculture indicators, Malaysia, Department of Statistics,

Malaysia 2017)

Agriculture is still 3rd engine of economic growth. The 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-

2020) with the theme “anchoring growth on people” aimed to become fully developed

country and welfare state. The vision would transform people and boost economic

growth. The efforts are being made to excel in the region and modernise agriculture

sector which will ultimately improve the livelihood of farmers. Additionally, the

modernisation of agriculture would be ensured by promotion of sustainable and

advance technology adoption to ultimately generate high agricultural income. In the

plan, various agriculture based initiatives have been mentioned such as promoting

private sector investment to speed up economic growth alongwith diverting focus from

imports to the export of commodities. This sector is forecasted to expand by 3.5%

with 7.8% contribution in GDP annually by modernising agricultural secor

(Government of Malaysia, 2015). Support to ICT adoption as modern technology is

also an encouraging intervention for agriculture and other sectors. Additionally, a

noteworthy focus is on climate change at the national level with one of the strategies

to manage risk. On top of that, 11th plan also reflect institutional support and extension

services stregthening including capacity building of extension service providers under

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the domain of modernising agriculture. These all efforts would lead to increase income

and productivity of farmers including small landholding farmers of the country.

It is expected that these efforts would burgeon the agriculture sector in right way and

reduce poverty at large. It is one of the encouraging elements of the policy that ICT-

based agriculture have got attention to expedite the agriculture development process

by introducing innovation based technologies. After seeing agriculture situation in

Malaysia, current scenario of food security with regard to ICT application is

mentioned next as it is very important at the country level.

1.4 Current Scenario of Food Security and ICT Application

Jere and Maharaj (2017) stated that ICTs have potential in the context of agriculture

as these can facilitate farm condition to generate more profit, increase crop production

and enhance efficiency which ultimately reflect food security. Muriithi et al. (2009)

also emphasized that ICTs have demonstrated potential in the frame of food security

in African continent. Food security for sustainable agriculture and livelihood of small

scale farmers has been stressed in Malaysia. Government of Malaysia is struggling to

increase food production for ensuring self food sufficiency level and enhace export of

food products (Tiraieyari and Uli, 2011). According to Singh and Grover (2013), ICTs

role to ensure food security cannot be overlooked because this issue has been

jeaopardized by climate changes and there is a need to sensitize farmers through

information provision.

Moon et al. (2016) stated in the context of Bangladesh that different actors are

focusing on food security of the growing population and extension service providers

are one of the important partners in this regard. Jan et al. (2008) also highlighted in

the context of Pakistan that good farmer-extension linkages are vital to ensure food

security of the population explosion. According to Ismail (2010), it is a crucial time

when Malaysia dreams to achieve the status of advanced high income economy. As

the population is growing rapidly and income level is also escalating, the policy is

useful to secure food for dense population and less dependency on imported food

items.

Policy is a living document and road map showing activities to follow and implement

for achieving development targets. Malaysia is also one of those countries, which

devise policies to achieve national goals in a smooth way. In this regard, Malaysia

ratified its National Agro-Food policy for 2011 to 2020 and replaced the National

Agriculture Policy (DPN3) (Ismail, 2010).

The policy pointers show that it is also helpful in controlling disease outbreaks,

reducing gap between demand and supply, malnutrition and exclusively hidden hunger

and on the other side, the availability of safe and quality food, more versatile food

items and hazard analysis are good frames of picture. All these efforts would be

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fruitless if farmers and allied stakeholders do not pay attention to the risk management

side of agriculture.

Furthermore, Arshad et al. (2011) stated that Malaysia’s main focus of food security

is on rice on account of wider consumption however, still self sufficiency even in

paddy production is uncertain. On the other hand, Indrani et al. (2001) argued that

food sufficiency level is decreasing on annual basis in Malaysia because agriculture

sector is more focusing on cash crops but less on food. They further added that food

is being imported even there is potential to furnish local food demand. They suggested

that all the players particularly government is required to change the priorities in order

to ensure food security in Malaysia and role of new technologies are still unclear.

So, ICTs have potential to help in curbing issues which might create hurdles in the

way of progress and prosperity. However, it is still unclear that how these digital

technologies could directly influence food security at national, regional and

international level. There are natural disasters and climate change issues at the national

level which need to be understand. Therefore, natural disasters and climate change is

presented next.

1.5 Natural Disasters and Climate Change in Malaysia

Natural disasters are natural phenomenon and occur due to the climate changes and

mostly produce economic shocks. These natural disasters appear in the form of

earthquakes, floods, hill torrents, tsunamis, eruptions of volcanoes, droughts and

hurricanes. National Security Council of Malaysia has defined disaster as “an incident

that occurs unexpectedly, complex in nature, resulting in the loss of lives and damage

to properties and the environment as well as interfering in the daily activities of the

local community” (Shaari et al., 2016).

Climate change has become burning issue not only in Malaysia but also in other

developing and developed countries. Oxford dictionary has defined it as “changes in

the earth's weather, including changes in temperature, wind patterns and rainfall,

especially the increase in the temperature of the earth's atmosphere that is caused by

the increase of particular gasses, especially carbon dioxide”.

Agriculture sector has been facing many climatic variations which directly or

indirectly affecting crop yield and quality of food. There are growing concerns of

climate variations and its impact on agriculture sector. On account of these changes,

agriculture has become riskier and risk management is mandatory to mitigate the

impacts. History reveals that Malaysia has faced many floods and other catastrophes.

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The flood history depicts that more than 300, 000 of population affected in the flood

of 1965. Moreover, the series of floods were also recorded due to tropical storm Greg

in the Sabah in the year 1996, caused 97.8 million US dollars damage to physical

infrastructure including houses and other valuable properties. Floods due to heavy and

continuous rain in Terengganu and Kelantan caused more than 0.35 million US dollars

damage to properties and infrastructure in 2000. Additionally, the floods in Johor

(2007) caused 489 million US dollars damage to physical infrastructure and properties.

So, in light of the aforementioned facts and figures, the total cost of damage also

affected economic growth (Shaari et al., 2016).

Malaysia has also witnessed severe disasters in the form of droughts. Like drought in

Malacca (1991) became cause of drying Durian Tunggal Dam and affected water

availability in almost all areas of the state. Similarly, 1997-1998 El Nino-associated

droughts are perceived as the most significant drought which had adversely affected

society and environment at the national level. In addition, widespread of forest fires

on account of long dry conditions endangered many areas of the country. This situation

was further jeoperdized the health situation of common people in the country after

similar situation was observed in the bordering country and became cause of haze

problem (Mustafa, 2007).

Drought in the 1998 severely affected the state of Sabah due to scarcity of rainfall.

The rainfall was absent for a period of four to nine months. In result, 170,000 people

and approximately 2,797 km2 were affected. Moreover, wild fires affected nearly 1580

Km2 in which 100 Km2 were occupied by agricultural lands and there were >7200

farmers who also got affected. The mostly damaged crop was paddy crop as it was

completely wiped out. The total loss was measured nearly 87 million Ringgits. The

similar condition was also observed in the northern side of Sarawak (around Miri).

Due to continuous dry spell, wild fires damaged a huge agricultural area (Mustafa,

2007).

El Nino linked drought in the period 1997-1998, a huge rainfall deficiency of 75%

was witnessed nearly all parts of Sabah for a duration between four to nine months

and even in few areas the rainfall deficit was approximately 90%. Additionally, the

longest drought was recorded > 100 days in Miri (Sarawak) and in this context,

Sulaiman (2007) stated that it was the longest drought, as per records. Zakaria and

Shaaban (2007) stated that climate changes would produce more droughts in the

upcoming dry years (2028, 2029, 2034, 2042 and 2044) and more adverse

hydrological conditions might be occured including floods and droughts at the national

level.

As the country either receives a large amount of rainfall in a year or experience dry

spell, so, it draws the attention to take measures and get equipped in advance for any

adverse situation in the upcoming years. Alam et al. (2010) cautioned that Malaysia is

one of the high prone countries to climate change variations where livelihood and

agriculture sustainability is at risk. In this regard, Malaysia containing population

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more than 27 million and 5.9 million tons greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter (per capita)

(Salahudin et al., 2013), 2nd largest (per capita) GHG emitter in the list of ASEAN

countries (Saxena, 2009), and shares 0.3% globally (Olivier et al., 2012), need to plan

accordingly. The activities show that the rank will step up in the list if temperature

rises by 0.3°C - 4.5°C, which will result about 95 cm sea level rise over a century

period. Hamdan et al. (2011) also confirmed that the negative impacts of climate

change on farms and farmers are irresistible and farming community is lacking ability

to adapt. After brief discussion on natural disaster situation on account of climate

changes, the situation of ICTs is presented in the next heading.

1.6 ICTs in Malaysia

ICTs are actually the advance form of mass media. Radio, T. V, newspapers, postal

services are mainly considered types of mass media as information and knowledge is

communicated to large number of people in a society (Hassan et al., 2010). However,

there is a limitation of coverage in mass media case but due to globalization, the new

forms of communication methods, tools and technologies have been invented to speed

up the process with the salient feature of instant feedback. From the future perspective,

it might be perceived the usage of ICTs as a local or national development parameter.

Malaysia is becoming a technology loving country as it reveals from the continuous

adoption of technologies for effective communication and technology transfer which

further highlights the endless future of ICTs in all spheres of life. Similarly, use of

ICTs is mushrooming in Malaysia as these facilitate business and social interaction.

From the business perspective, ICTs are making business more stronger than the past

due to enabling environment and friendly policies at national and international level.

In order to bridge the digital divide (BDD) gap at the national level, special budget

were allocated for investment with the aim to connect all citizens of Malaysia by

establishing 1,945 telecentres across all 13 states (Norizan and Jalaluddin, 2008).

Digital Malaysia master plan was developed to transform the country as the way to

achieve socio-economic development and digital penetration for national prosperity

by the year 2020. It is assumed that there would not be digital divide in the year 2020

as it could be used in all sectors. In this regard, Global Science and Innovation

Advisory Council (GSIAC), Malaysia has been established in 2011. This council has

been given mandate to give valuable insights and provide roadmap for Digital

Malaysia in order to bolster national economy. This initiative would lead to become

ICT based leading nation among the ASEAN countries. More importantly, it seems

that these efforts would boost agricultural sector and ultimately affect farmers and

their behavior.

In the current scenario, the development of industries and social activities are not just

rely on employees’ skills but also proper execution of digital policies. The studies on

association between ICT friendly policies and GDP have uncovered positive

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correlations along with socio-economic developments as these have produced socio-

economic advantages (Mody, 1995).

In this context, first survey report about ICT usage and access by individual and

household level was issued by Department of Statistics, Malaysia in 2013. The ICT

usage by an individual contains three items namely mobile phones, computers and the

internet. On the other hand, household level access and usage comprised six ICTs

which were landline phone, radio, T. V, T. V channel (paid), computer and internet. It

would be worthy to mention here that their survey was based on International

Telecommunication Unit (ITU) manual instructions and guidelines.

The survey findings show that mobile phones were used by 94.2%, computers were

used by 56% and internet was used by 57% at the individual level in the country. So,

among these, mobile phones were used by majority of Malaysian people. They further

found that there were about 60.3% of the individuals who used internet on daily basis

(Figure 1.3) while, 30.2% individuals used on weekly basis and only 2.8% of the

individuals used less than one in a month basis. The activities on internet were mostly

social activities like sending and receiving messages, emails; watching or

downloading games, movies; buying food or personal items; travel inquiries; and

reading electronic books, magazines or newspapers. In a nutshell, similar researches

have been also done to assess the individual use of ICTs in various other countries but

use of ICTs in agriculture and agricultural risk management have been a matter of

limited researchers’ concern.

Figure 1.3 : Frequency of Internet used by Individuals

(Source : Department of Statistics, Malaysia 2013)

As far as ICTs access at household level is concerned, the survey results indicate that

T. V was accessed to 98.2% of the household, followed by mobile which was 97%

accessible. Whereas computer by 59.4%, internet to 58.6%, T. V channel (paid) to

56.1% and landline phone were in the access of 31.1% households. So, television and

mobile were the main ICTs which were in the access of mostly households.

60.3%

30.2%

6.7% 2.8% At least once a day

At least once a weakbut not every day

At least once a monthbut not every weak

Less than once amonth

Frequency of internet used by individuals

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In fact, internet access is improving day by day but still 41.4% of the households are

lacking home internet access, as the report declared. The reasons of lacking access

were high cost, lack of proper skills or confidence, limitation of time, lack of personal

interest and language problem. High cost and lack of interest, skills or confidence were

comparatively higher in rural parts than urban areas at the national level. After getting

picture of ICTs at national level, the ICTs situation in rural areas of Malaysia is

pictured in the next topic.

1.7 ICTs in Rural Malaysia

ICTs are not only flourishing in urban areas but also in rural areas of Malaysia too.

The concept of urban and rural digital divide is diminishing day by day if the

infrastructure is good, connectivity is remarkable, access and affordability is not issue

for the common users. The recent progress in ICT sector has opened new horizons due

to flow of knowledge (Chapman and Slaymaker, 2002) and information sharing and

has become prime source of personal capacity strengthening (Nor Iadah et al., 2010).

The previous studies reveal that there were many projects and programmes in rural

areas of Malaysia to reduce gap in digital divide concept and connect rural areas with

the modern world of technologies. The involvement of public, private and NGOs

sector to bring development in rural communities by the introduction of ICTs is

remarkable. The programmes by the Government in sensitization and development by

the use of ICTs in rural communities were telecentres, Medan InfoDesa, Universal

Service Provision and Rural Internet Centre (PID) are name a few. According to

Rashid and Hassan (2012), these programmes are now act as ICT training centers in

promoting knowledge and creating various development activities and particularly

rural entrepreneurship.

The telecenter programme for rural areas was initiated in the year 2000 with the help

of government agencies namely Ministry of Rural and Regional development,

Ministry of Water, Energy and Commission, Malaysian Communications and

Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and state level governments (Tahir et al., 2016).

According to Tahir et al. (2016), the teleccenters can be divided into three phases

starting from 2001 to 2020. The 1st phase was between the years 2001 to 2010 in which

these were established in rural areas on account for solving digital gap. The 2nd phase

was between 2011 to 2015 in which bridging the digital gap was done. And the 3rd

phase was started in 2016 and will end up in 2020 with the aim to upgrade these

telecentres to become independent, advance and vigorous.

In the context of telecentres, Abu Samah et al. (2013) opined that these centers were

aimed at bringing digital access, helping rural masses to increase their level of ICTs

literacy and facilitating to access information and knowledge about various fields like

general development, agriculture, business, health and local governance. Whereas,

Norizan and Jalaluddin (2008) highlighted that these centers bolsters online activities

of the rural masses in e-government and e-commerce programmes, helps to control

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youth migration from rural to urban areas for employment along with socio-economic

development through the use of ICTs.

Rashid and Hassan (2012) described the benefits of telecentres for rural communities

were many, ranging from socio-economic development at local level, help in saving

costs and time to diversified knowledgeable societies. On the other side of the coin,

there were some challenges as well. These were lack of perception and motivation of

the rural communities’ specially illiterate and aged strata of society, technical and

infrastructure hurdles, location and space issues, weaknesses in implementation of

programmes, vested interests of the role players and underutilization of the

programmes by the communities. While Zahurin et al. (2009) have also highlighted

problems like absence of motivation, lack of proper physical facilities, scarcity of

technical manpower, uncategorized users, inadequate hours of operation and less

training programmes for IT.

Samsuddin et al. (2016) emphasized that ICTs have become very important in

people’s lives as they are helpful in information sharing, developments and bridging

rural-urban digital divide even in Malaysia. They further added that ICTs are

important communicating tools and also act as liaison in the context of community

advancement so, communication among masses is difficult without ICTs in the present

scenario. All in all, it depicts that ICTs in rural Malaysia is as important as ICTs in

urban areas of the country.The links between risk management and ICTs are discussed

in the upcoming topic.

1.8 Risk Management and ICTs

Risk management has become policy issue and striking attention of policy makers in

the present agricultural policy reform in Malaysia and other developing nations

(Chukwukere and Baharuddin, 2012). Lack of awareness to timely address the issue

of risk management in agriculuture lead people and specially small holding farmers

into poverty and food scarcity which is ultimte cause of socio-economic and food

insecurity issue (Hansen et al., 2018). Therefore, public and private sectors of

Malaysia are struggling to reduce the impact of natural calamities.

In order to provide information on time regarding strong winds plus weather situation,

likelihood of disasters (floods, drought, hill torrents, heavy rains, cyclones, tsunami),

price variations of produce in market or policies of goverment, knowledge regarding

farmers and their nature of required data is a pre-requisite (NDMA, 2007). Indeed, if

the required information or data is inaccurate or absent, then farmers feel uncertain

and may face more risks. Thus, awareness and knowledge play vital role in taking

decisions for adaptation, mitigation and addressing the issue in order to avoid

production, market and other kinds of risks.

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According to Chong et al. (2018), risk reduction need various actions in order to

prepare the community and capacity building is also required to reduce impacts. The

socio-economic and human losses may be reduced when community is having high

level of awareness and advance knowledge on preparation of disasters and mitigation

techniques.

Aziz and Yusoff (2014) conducted study in Malaysia and concluded that different kind

of risks were faced by Malaysian agropreneurs. The authors added that the respondents

had limited knowledge and financial access but still willing to face any kind of natural

disasters to continue their projects. While, Bekhet and Latif (2018) argued that

technological innovation and strategic policies are mandatory for Malaysian

sustainable growth. These technological innovations may be slow but surely help in

future progress if well planned and executed.

The use of ICTs in the agricultural sector is not a novel approach. However, the latest

tools, techniques and technologies such as cell phones, portable devices, internet,

digital softwares, web portals are in the initial stages. Therefore, various questions

regarding their use, role and potential in the domain of agriculture are important.

Torero and Braun (2006) stated that access to ICTs could positively lead to poverty

alleviation and sustainable rural development. However, awareness may also reduce

poverty and burgeon economic growth but evidences are still missing (Bhavnani et

al., 2008). Importantly, weaknesses at institutional level could further halt the pace of

ICT contributions on account of ability to explore. Thus, assessment of various aspects

of institutions involved could help in enhancing benefits to the poor directly (Mittal,

2012).

The prospective role of ICTs may be bifurcated into two elements; a) information

access and networking -which are important in the research–extension–farmer–market

interface and b) the technology diffusion process. For the first role, ICT usage may

give many benefits to farming community and other plays like timely information

about inputs (price and availability of seed, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation); easy

approaches to animal and crop insurance and credit facilities. For the second role,

numerousstudies that have revealed the ICT usage in disseminating knowledge and

technology to producers, but there are concerns about the limited understanding of the

impact of this intervention on the farmers’ behavior, and its capacity to act as an

enabler of technology adoption (Ali and Kumar, 2011; Aker, 2011). There is a need

to examine the role of agriculture agencies which is highlithed next in the context of

extension services and ICT usage in agriculture as a whole.

1.9 Role of Agriculture Agencies and ICT Usage in Agriculture

Agriculture agencies either public or private are key players from technology transfer

to technlogy acceptance among farming community around the globe. The role of both

important agencies kept changing due to need and demand of the users and end users.

According to Swanson and Samy (2002), the public extension role in agriculture has

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been changing in developing world since decades due to budget constaints and

intervention of private extension agencies. Actually, in the extension linear system,

innovations in agriculture are generated from researchers (innovators) which are

extended by extension professionals and ultimately adopted by farmers (Pamuk et al.,

2013). Agriculture extension system plays leadership and coordinating role among

stakeholders so they need to continue work for sustainability of agriculture sector

(Rajalahti, 2012; Swanson, 2008).

From the lens of history, public sector based extension system remained dominant

before the late 20th century however, after that many kind of organizations including

private agencies started delivering extension services to the farming community.

Interestingly, even public and private agencies joined hands to provide extension

services for better livelihood of farmers (Swanson and Samy, 2002).

Christoplos (2010) has highlighted the importance of extension and advisory services

as package of activities which offers valuable information and services required by

farming community and related stakeholders to help in building their various skills

like technical, managerial and organizational alongwith practices to ameliorate their

living standards. The author further maintained that extension agencies can help in

making informed decisions and also increase the resilience capacity of farming

community by transferring knowledge and information about weather forecasts,

market prices and demands by the buyers.

According to Singh and Grover (2013), there is prime role of public and private

agencies as agriculture extension and advisory service providers in transferring

information, education and technologies related with climate change and mitigation.

Additionally, extension links farmers with researchers and other important players in

the whole system. Another important activity of extension agencies is capacity

development through adult and non formal education particularly in the context of

climate change (Singh and Grover, 2013). That is why Ozor (2010) emphsized that

there is a change required in roles and capacities in the whole extension scenario to

overcome issues caused by climate change. Ani et al. (2015) stated that there is a nexus

between resilience of farmers regarding agriculture risks and extension services. In

this regard, Mittal (2012) noted that risks can be minimized when a farmer gets

updated, quality oriented information and able to use that information. Thus, this

valuable knowledge and up to date information is provided by agriculture extension

agencies in any area.

According to Takenaka (2006), state departments (agricultural extension) in Asian

countries are aimed to educate farming community but they have not been able to

make any significant changes on account of various shortcomings namely weak

structure (organizational), less contribution of farmers in the existing development

progress, lack of mechanism for appreciation and rewards for good extension work

and communications gaps among various stakeholders (policy makers, farmers,

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extension staff, planners and researchers). Thus, there is dire need to revise extension

mechanism to become more proactive to handle the issues (Baig and Aldosari, 2013).

Baig and Aldosari (2013); Kulkarni and Sonawane (2017) and Rohila et al. (2017)

also highlighted the emerging role of ICTs grafted with extension services and would

have significant impacts (Rao and Meera, 2017). The authors (Baig and Aldosari,

2013) further added that IT has also brought revolution in the agriculture agencies

(extension) role however its true potential has yet to be made clear.

In fact, agriculture agencies are more inclined naturaly to incorporate ICTs for quick

transfer and delivery of information to the end users. In this context, Behera et al.

(2015) pointed out that agriculture extension has started relying on IT due to

information transfer on quick basis which could be apt to the area and situation on the

basis of farmers’ perceptions. Sanusi et al. (2010) revealed that agriculture

professionals and farming community have started using digital means for effective

message delivery, information exchange and managing the received information for

good results which is a sign of agriculture development as a whole.

However, There could be number of factors which influence decision of farmers to

use ICTs in agriculture. Some important factors pointed out by Caseli and Coleman

(2001) are high cost, skills and competition and lacking these could inhibit the farmers

to use ICTs. But, staff of agriculture agencies try to mould the attitude, intention and

behavior of farmers to use and adopt various technologies for personal and agricultural

development.

Similarly, extension workers are act as important link between government and

farming community, transfer important pieces of information (Tiraieyari et al., 2014)

and facilitate farmers in solving agriculture related problems. Cristoplos (2010)

explained that farmers and particularly smallholders are facing numerous problems

with reference to climate change. So, in order to deal with risk, small holding farmers

required new methods of extension services which can help them in understanding and

managing agricultural risks. In order to deal with these kind of resource-poor farmers,

extension and advisory service (EAS) must be demand driven, farmer friendly and

facilitate in providing up to date information and knowledge about climate variations,

rain and windfall patterns, latest input prices in market, microfinance and other

requirements.

It can be forecasted that future generations will harness ICTs for maximum agriculture

production and receive more profits than the existing one. As everything is becoming

digitalised, so this digitalization will attract more users to manage variety of risks in

an expert manner. However, science cannot compete with nature but the only option

is to manage in certain boundaries. Next, conceptual and operation definitions used in

this study are presented and later, the picture about the issue in the form of problem

statement is presented next.

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1.10 Problem Statement

Agriculture sector plays a significant role in food security at the regional and national

levels but this sector is still countering problems with nature in the form of floods,

drought and diseases (Alam et al., 2010b). Similarly, it is a dilemma that the effects

and after effects are being faced by farmers directly who have been adhered with this

sector since a long time as a prime source of bread and butter. Ultimately, these issues

are influencing human behavior and their decisions. If this probelm persists, then

country and its inhabitants (farmers) would face more serious problems.

Beyond doubt, public and private sectors have facilitated farmers to harness potential

of ICTs to solve the issues (Istikoma et al., 2015; Yusop et al., 2013). Even, Malaysian

government has tried to establish good physical infrastructure so that people can take

benefits through digital means (Shaffril et al., 2012). The stakeholders involved in

agriculture sector have motivated, mobilized and disseminated these digital

technologies among farming community to cope with the natural problems. Now, it is

dire need to understand farmers’ behavioral intention to use ICTs in the risk

management of agriculture sector as these are speedy, cheap, timely and easy to

operate.

Mittal (2012) in his one of the working papers reported that if the farmer is well

informed and skilled to use ICTs then the expected risks can be minimized. In addition,

the author further found that among various latest ICTs, cell phones have proved to be

widely accepted on account of their use and medium of exchanging information in

India, other Asian countries and Africa. The use of mobile phones have been

increasing due to easy availability of particular information and it is enhancing

awareness, source of education, support in technology adoption, fewer costs on

transactions, superior market efficiency and better risk management linked with

climate. According to Chhachar and Hassan (2013), farmers of Malaysia have also

started using ICTs particularly mobile phones in the agricultural sector. However,

there is a still need to identify various ICTs being used by farmers of selected sates of

Malaysia in the context of agricultural risk management.

The existing literature revealed that there were many factors which could influence

the intention of farmers to use ICTs. The factors related to socio-demographic are

(Srinuan, 2016; Jiriko et al., 2015; Moghaddam and Khatoon-Abadi, 2013; Venkatesh

et al., 2003; Cheong, 2002) age (Cheong, 2002), educational level (Ali and Kumar,

2011; Cheong, 2002), income (Cheong, 2002), experience (Cheong, 2002), farm size

and land owenership. Additionally, there are other influencing factors like attitude

(Adegbidi et al., 2012; Hsu and Chiu, 2004), subjective norms (Venkatesh and Morris,

2000), perceived behavioral control and behavirol intention which are related with

ICT use (Ajzen, 1991). On the other side of the coin, there is lack of literature which

could reveal the factors influencing farmers intention to use ICTs for agricultural risk

management.

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Furthermore, this study was designed to determine the existing level of attitude,

subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intention of respondents to use

ICTs for agricultural risk management. On top of that, the role of extension agencies

rendering services in transferring information and technologies to manage agricultural

risk also demands to be clarified in Malaysia. Although extension functionaries are

providing services to farmers (Tiraieyari et al., 2014) through mass media as form of

ICTs (Hassan et al., 2010) but, their services to use ICTs for managing agricultural

risk are still questionable. If the problem is not given priority yet then it will affect on

livelihood of farmers particularly and agriculture sector generally.

The research questions and objectives are very important in all the empirical studies,

so these important points are mentioned next.

1.11 Research Questions

The research questions for this study:

1) What are the ICT technologies used by farmers, their sources of information, adaptation toward risk management, social networks and agriculture extension

services?

2) What are the respondents’ attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control toward intention to use ICTs for management of agricultural risk?

3) What are socio-demographic factors that can affect the intention of farmers to use ICTs for agricultural risk management?

4) What is the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intention to use ICTs for agricultural risk management?

5) What is the influence of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on farmers’ intention to use ICTs for agricultural risk management?

1.12 Objectives of the Study

1.12.1 General Objective

The overall objective of this study was to determine management of risk in agriculture

sector through the application of ICTs in selected states of Malaysia.

1.12.2 Specific Objectives

Specifically, the objectives of this study were:

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1) To identify the ICT technologies, sources of information use, agriculture extension services, existing networks and adaptation by the respondents in managing

agricultural risk.

2) To examine attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intention level to use ICTs for agricultural risk management.

3) To evaluate the relationship between socio-demographic factors and intention level to use ICTs for managing agriculture risks by the respondents.

4) To assess relationship between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and intention to use ICTs for agricultural risk management.

5) To determine the influence of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (IVs) on the intention (DV) of farmers to use ICTs for risk management in

agriculture.

1.13 Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is manifold. It would help in realizing the importance of

ICTs and agricultural risk management in the present and future context. From the

theoretical point of view, this study would contribute in understanding perceptions

about respondents attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and

behavioral intention of farmers toward ICTs use for agricultural risk management. The

researchers have also opined that agricultural risk management through ICTs is still

naive as some work has been done in developed countries but for Malaysia and other

developing parts of the world, it may be comparatively new and less focused

particularly in the field of agriculture extension and rural advisory services.

The present study would also add value in understanding existing situation of ICTs

adotion as perceived by farmers. These would further capture attention of policy

makers, extension service providers, academia and farmers to harness untapped

potential of digital technologies in the agriculture sector. Similarly, various types of

ICTs which are being used and further can be used would assist development agencies

in the future projects. This might also urge the opinions of various actors in planning

to support or not to support ICTs in management of various risks in farming.

From the lens of real life, this study would contribute in enabling various stakeholders

associated with the agriculture sector to manage the risks by using ICTs as speedy and

effective means of communication. This would also help extension staff of public and

private sector to reach and transfer technologies among farmers quickly. Many

countries are already experiencing the shortage of extension field staff so ICTs can be

proper and timely remedy in the present scenario.

The results of the study would benefit a number of relevant players namely farmers,

policy makers and in practice theories. The Malaysian farmers could be in a better

position to use and adopt new types of ICTs for agricultural risk management. In

addition, paradigm shift from traditional agriculture to ICT based practices would

enhance production and protection of self food security issue at the local level. It is

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expected that farmers and farmers’ organizations would be ready in advance to tackle

any natural hazard forecasted to occur.

The results would also be useful for policy makers from public and private sectors. As

a need and demand, the government officials will propagate digital activities on state

of the art design. It would help in adding ICTs in the policy pointers for farmers and

especially for smallholder farming strata of Malaysia. It would open doors for

Malaysian state officials attached with agriculture sector to devise and revise policy

in favor of farmers who are prone to natural disasters. On top of that, the best practices

of risk management could be replicated in other states through the adoption of digital

means.

This study would also contribute towards the theory development as it could offer new

insights for researchers towards ICT as technology acceptance in the context of

agricultural risk management. Additionally, the role being played by rural advisory

service providers in technology transfer and technology acceptance could stimulate

the stakeholders including farmers to integrate digital means for agricultural risk

management. The present study would also offer assistance to the researchers in

understanding influence of socio-demographic features on behavioral intentions of

farmers regarding ICTs usage for agricultural risk management.

1.14 Conceptual and Operational Definitions of the Terms

There are certain terminologies which have been used and required to understand for

clarity. These terms are given below:

1.14.1 Knowledge

a) Conceptual

According to Nonaka (1994), knowledge is “justified true belief”.

b) Operational

In this study, knowledge refers to the personal belief of respondents about

agricultural risk management.

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1.14.2 Attitude

a) Conceptual

Ajzen (1991) has defined as “the degree to which an individual favors the behavior

being examined”.

b) Operational

Attitude in this study has been understood as farmers’ positive or negative assessment

of behavioral performance to use or not to use ICTs for managing agriculture risk (s).

It can be unveail through individual belief pertaining to the behavior.

1.14.3 Subjective Norms

a) Conceptual

According to Ajzen (1991), subjective norms is “the social pressure that makes a

person to perform a particular behavior”.

b) Operational

In this study, subjective norms means the perception of individual farmer to socially

accept ICTs for managing agriculture risks.

1.14.4 Perceived Behavioral Control

a) Conceptual

Perceived behavioral control is described by Ajzen (1991) as “the perceived ease or

difficulty of performing the behavior”.

b) Operational

In this study, PBC means how well respondents (farmers) are able to use different

ICTs and manage agriculture risks.

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1.14.5 Intention

a) Conceptual

According to Ajzen (1991), the most close behavioral predictor is the behavioral

intention. It shows the strength of an individual that how that individual is self

motivated and willing to perform that specific behavior.

b) Operational

In this study, intention means behavioral intention which mirrors the motivation and

self inclination of respondents to use ICTs for agricultural risk management.

1.14.6 Extension Services

a) Conceptual

Extension services are defined by Rivera and Qamar (2003) as “a non-formal

educational function that involves the dissemination of information and advice with

the intention of promoting knowledge, attitudes, skills and aspirations”.

b) Operational

In this study, the agriculture extension services mean the services rendered by public

and private sector in facilitating farmers to manage agricultural risks and/or use ICTs

for agricultural risk management. Thus, extension services rendered by public and

private sector have been evaluated through the frequency of meetings, support

extended, trainings imparted, information delivered at the farmers’ level. Ultimately,

a brief picture of extension service providers appeared to further distil the role played

regarding agricultural risk management and promotion of ICTs among farming

community.

1.14.7 Agricultural Risk Management

a) Conceptual

According to Williams and Schroder (1999), a state of risk is supposed to exist

whenever knowledge of the situation enables the likelihood of the numerous possible

events to be evaluated in advance. So, risk management is “the process for designing,

implementing and evaluating strategies, policies and measures to improve the

understanding of disaster risk, foster disaster risk reduction and transfer, and promote

continuous improvement in disaster preparedness, response and recovery practices,

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with the explicit purpose of increasing human security, welfare, quality of life and

sustainable development” (IPCC, 2012).

b) Operational

In this study, risk management has been seen in the context of farms and farmers.

Additionally, awareness, perception of knowledge, adaptation, sources of risks and

components of TPB were also captured.

1.14.8 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

a) Conceptual

According to Selwyn (2002), ICTs is an umbrella term which comprises computer

software and hardware, telecommunication technologies, broadcasting through digital

means along with digital sources of information which may be online or offline. The

European Commission (2001) has defined it in a more comprehensive manner as "a

wide range of services, applications and technologies, using various types of

equipment and software, often running over telecommunications networks”.

b) Operational

In the domain of this study, various types of ICTs use and/or intention to use for

agricultural risk management to facilitate in communication and information sharing

have been seen.

1.15 Thesis Organization

The thesis is divided into five (5) chapters and the further detail is given below.

1) Chapter 1 covers the introduction, background, Malaysian agriculture sector, national agriculture and food security policies, climate change and its impacts, risk

management and its use in ICTs, role of agriculture agencies and ICT usage in

agriculture. Furthermore, this chapter has also described problem statement, study

objectives, research questions, significance and conceptual and operational

definitions of important terms.

2) Chapter 2 explains literature review about climate change in agriculture, natural disasters, risk management in agriculture, use of ICTs in agriculture and risk

management, extension services, farmers based associations and social networks,

theories and models related to technology acceptance including Theory of Planned

Behavior and its components, and empirical literature related with ICTs and

agricultural risk management.

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3) Chapter 3 reveals conceptual framework, sampling frame, primary and secondary data sources, instrument design, problems faced during data collection, data

processing and analysis techniques, reliability test, hypotheses formulation, chi

square test, Pearson correlation and regression analysis.

4) Chapter 4 elaborates study results and detailed discussion along with statistical results. Moreover, results and discussion have deliberated keeping in mind

research objectives, questions and hypothesis. Results are presented in descriptive

and inferential form.

5) Chapter 5 highlights conclusions, policy implications, limitations of the study and recommendations for farmers, policy makers and allied actors.

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